ORIONINE EDUCATIONAL PLAN On the centenary of the first College opened by Don Orione 1893 – 1993 1 Little Work of Divine Providence (Don Orione) ORIONINE EDUCATIONAL PLAN On the centenary of the first college opened by Don Orione 1893 – 1993 1994 General Curia Secretariat for the Eduational Apostolate Via Etruria, 6 – 00183 Rome 2 “I feel it is my duty to extend an invitation to the whole Church to make every effort for ensuring that the structures of Catholic schools remain effective; responsibility for this should particularly be taken by Bishops, priests and above all by those well-deserving religious Congregations, both male and female, which came into being with the charism of education by the Saints who founded them. These should make a full commitment to maintaining this great and incomparable service to the Church, treating it as something precious.” (John Paul II, Speech of 28.6.1984.) 3 ABBREVIATIONS Dim. Rel. Dimensione religiosa della scuola cattolica, Congregation for Catholic Education, Rome 1988. Don Orione e la P.O.D.P. Don Orione e la Piccoa Opera della Divina Provvidenza. Documenti e Testimonianze, by Don Giovanni Venturelli, Rome 1969-1992, vols. I, II, III, IV, V. Fam. Cons. Familiaris Consortio, Encyclical of John Paul II, Rome 1981. GE Gravissimum Educationis, Declaration of the 2nd Vatican Ecumenical Council on Christian Education, Rome 1965. GS Guadium et Spes, Pastoral Constitution of the 2nd Vatican Ecumenical Council on the Church in the modern world, Rome 1965. Il Laico Il Laico cattolico testimone della fede nella scuola, Congregazione per l’educazione cattolica, Rome 1982. Lett. I Don LUIGI ORIONE, Lettere, vol. I, Postulation of the Little Work of Divine Providence, Rome 1969. Lett. 2 Don LUIGI ORIONE, Lettere, vol. II, Postulation of the Little Work of Divine Providence, Rome 1969. LG Lumen Gentium, Dogmatic Constitution of the 2nd Vatican Ecumenical Council on the Church, Rome 1964. Puebla Documento finale, 3rd General Conference of the Latin American Episcopate, Puebla 1979. RM Redemptoris Missio, Encyclical of John Paul II, Rome 1980. Santo Domingo Documento finale, 4th General Conference of the Latin American Episcopate, Santo Domingo 1992. Sc. Catt. Italia La scuola cattolica oggi in Italia, Italian Episcopal Conference, Rome 1983. Sc. Catt. La scuola cattolica, Congregation for Catholic Education, Rome 1977. 4 SUMMARY INTRODUCTION Chapter 1: THE SCHOOL IN DON ORIONE’S PLAN FOR “RENEWING MANKIND AND SOCIETY IN CHRIST” I. “Restoring all things in Christ”. II. Jesus Christ the supreme yearning of mankind. III. The Church, the family of God. IV. Belonging to the Church. V. Education for renewing mankind. VI. A distinct system of education. VII. Orionine spirituality. Ch. 2: CATHOLIC CHURCH AND SCHOOLING I. The Catholic school in history. II. The face of the Catholic school. III. Mission and function of the Catholic school. IV. View of life. V. Summarising. Ch. 3: ORIGIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE ORIONINE SCHOOL I. The teaching and institutional heritage of Don Orione. II. Schools opened during the life of the Founder. III. An educating and evangelising presence for the advancement of the people. Ch. 4: THE CATHOLIC SCHOOL IN THE FACE OF THE CHALLENGES OF TODAY’S WORLD I. The general situation. II. The particular situation of education in the school environment. III. The educational plan in the face of the challenges. Ch. 5: DON ORIONE’S TEACHING STYLE I. Towards a distinct educational style: the “Paternal-Christian” method. II. “Paternal”. III. “Christian”. IV. Basic features of the “Paternal-Christian” educational system. V. Role of kind-heartedness. Ch. 6: EDUCATIONAL ENVIRONMENT AND THE EDUCATING COMMUNITY 5 I. Educational environment. II. The educating community. III. Roles of the different members of the scholastic community. IV. Unity. Ch. 7: FORMATIONAL ITINERARIES I. Reflections of an educational character. II. General objectives. III. Criteria. IV. Spheres. V. Goals, attitudes and values. Ch. 8: PROFILE OF THE PERSON TO BE FORMED I. Renewal of mankind and society in Christ. II. Profile of the Orionine pupil. III. Features of the former pupil. 6 INTRODUCTION It is with great pleasure that I introduce the “Orionine Educational Plan” that was drawn up recently in Santiago de Chile and which has now been published after suitable revision. This is not merely an examination of a “private” kind, carried out by a specialist, but rather a reflection of the thoughts of the whole Congregation. Let me explain. A school: the first work We have just celebrated, on 15 October last, the centenary of the Foundation of the Congregation which started with the famous little school of San Bernardino. After the closure of the oratory, the seminarian Orione did not give up. He deeply felt the need to close the gap that was opening up between the Church and the people. So he began with a school. During this first stage the full influence of the three years spent with Don Bosco can be clearly seen. It is not surprising, then, that he started with young people, as he was still young himself. With time, though, his plans became more clearly defined and expanded in an irrepressible manner. All the works: a school San Bernardino was just the beginning. Consumed by a great fire (“I feel the need to travel the earth and all the seas,”) his ideas were welling up inside him; he wanted to encompass everything and everyone. Alongside the school he placed his charitable works. But there is no separateness here. They formed one sole educational project. The school, in fact, is the initial charitable work since it offers at one and the same time an education of the conscience and an opportunity to take one’s place in society with dignity. Education of the youth is the highest service that can be performed for a people. Schools and charitable works are thus founded, contained within one plan for education to solidarity. If “a school is always a great work of charity,” it is also true that “a work of charity is always a great school.” Don Orione the educator Our Founder was not just content to open schools just about everywhere. He himself became the great educator and father of the Congregation and was ever-present by means of countless journeys and thousands of letters. Some of these were explicitly “teaching letters,” setting a standard. Don Orione intended to give permanent directions through them to his sons. One famous letter of his was written from Victoria (Buenos Aires) on 21 February 1922 and addressed to his sons in the “San Geraldo” College of Mar de Hespanha in Brazil (Lett. I, 353-392). No less well-known is the letter from Tortona of 5 August 1920, addressed to Don Pensa who was in charge of the Venice schools. (Lett. I, 237-252). We also have that most famous letter of 3 July 1936 concerning the Sunday school (Lett. II, 365-374). But these are 7 not the only ones. It would seem that Don Orione, hopping from continent to continent, wrote ceaselessly to his sons, issuing his directives and enlivening his educational undertakings. His main concerns, as we can see, were not aesthetic but practical, solid and sound ones: “Our system, which we will call Paternal-Christian.” Similarly, on the next page he speaks of “establishing and using our new system of education, the Paternal-Christian system,” (Lett. I, 377-378). “Do not destroy it, then, (this letter) as I will want to look at it again so as to take from it what is superfluous and add in what is lacking. Take it for now in its spirit and its meaning rather than in its form” (Lett. I, 368). The “unfinished work” It is wonderful to consider the action of a Founder as an “unfinished work”. Don Orione did not have the time to organise his teaching ideas into a complete system, but his life was an on-going source of orientation and examples. The Congregation has retained this treasure-house from the beginning. There have been numerous examples from individual confreres. During the last ten to fifteen years there has been a greater awareness of the need to imitate the teaching style of the Founder more closely, especially where the passing on of our spirit to the laity is concerned. Don Orione, in fact, almost exclusively wrote with his religious in mind. As the congregation has become more widespread, our educational institutions have passed almost completely into the hands of lay people. This is due not only to a lack of religious, but also because in some countries the state has not prevented the development of private schools. Our responsibility We have a great responsibility, that goes without saying! This has now become clear because in recent years the urgency for knowledge and greater study of our educational methods has grown. It would be a sign of decline and serene carelessness if we were to manage forty thousand students without considering the question of our methods and style and of whether we have something original to say in education, even though we are not a congregation specialised exclusively in schooling. This idea came about almost spontaneously through our normal work. It arose from our religious who were working in schools and from teachers who asked us for a “justification of our faith.” Nowadays lay teachers are in a majority everywhere. Religious, partly through lack of numbers – as we have already said – but also through an increased respect for the mission of the laity in the Church, have had the courage to delegate. They have delegated many things, but not the responsibility for the soul of the Catholic Orionine school. Thus some lay people, who have suddenly found themselves managing our schools, have requested formation.